Sailing Life Day 79 - 83: First Time Trip to Jamaica

We’ve been always wanting to go to Jamaica of course because of Bob Marley, Reggae Music, Jerk sauce and a lot more! We thought we’d go here on our own sailboat but it’s going to be really hard for newbie sailors like us since we’ll be against the tradewinds! So, now that we’re in the Dominican Republic, then it’s easier for us to just fly to other Caribbean countries and islands!

Here we are now in Negril, Jamaica but before the fun part.. we experienced some mishaps but became a good detour for us! We flew with interCarribean that has to go to Turks & Caicos first before flying to Kingston (capital of Jamaica) to Montego Bay (the airport in Western Jamaica with all the resorts).. well, the flight was delayed and unexpectedly had issues with the Immigration so Jonathan and I missed our connecting flight from Kingston to Montego Bay! 🙀🙈

I think if we were first time travelers then it will be crazy start of the trip - imagine entering a new country and don’t know how to go to the resort where you have pre-booking, no more connecting flights to reach the destination since it’s 7 o’clock at NIGHT! They offered us a Taxi service but we had to pay $300 for it.

So, what we did that surprised the Jamaican airport staff who assisted us was we rented a car!! They were hesitant we can handle it since it’s night time, our first time on the road and the cars are right-hand drive! What they forgot to know is that Jonathan is British so driving on this side of the road is natural for him! Hahaha!

We spoke with 6 different rental cars and found the cheapest one for $81 per day and we can return the car in Montego Bay instead of Kingston. Without internet, I pre-loaded the direction on google maps and we reached our hotel at around 12 midnight! Hahaha! There were 2 expressways that was really good and convenient we just had to pay $20 on toll fees but worth it! ❤️

The good thing happened was that we had the car to use the next day for a roadtrip and day tour around Negril and Montego Bay then we hitched a ride back with the bus to the Couples Resort!🤣

And here we are not leaving the resort, just enjoying the beach, food and a lot of Piña Colada with Jerk Chicken! Haha🤗

P.S. If you have a Philippines passport then Visa is REQUIRED. You CAN’T use the UK, USA or Schengen visa here. The process is easy at any Jamaican Consulate/ Embassy, the cost is $100. For British, it’s visa-free to enter Jamaica.